Sam "Firezerg" Prowse wins Academy Qualifier

Posted on Jun 26th, 2013 by Yuenanimous
Category: StarCraft II

This past week the compLexity Academy held an internal tournament to determine which player would receive an all expenses paid trip to MLG Anaheim this weekend. We at the Academy are pleased to announce that the winner of the trip to Anaheim is Sam "Firezerg" Prowse. In celebration of this victory, compLexity Academy commishoner Michael "Twixz" Shane sat down with Sam to discuss his history and the tournament.

Sam, first off congratulations on your win! You have been part of compLexity for a while now, but for those unaware why don't you tell us about your journey with compLexity?

Thanks! I've been involved with compLexity since their first ever StarCraft II roster, and was fortunate enough to be sent to two MLG events back in 2010; Anaheim and Columbus. I guess looking back, it really has been a long time since I was able to represent compLexity at a major event and I'm very happy to have that opportunity again!

You have played in the Academy Qualifiers before but failed to qualify, what has kept you motivated to improve and compete in these events?

To be honest, I had very long on-again-off-again streak on Wings of Liberty as far as activity goes, I think at least in some part due to my enjoyment of the game. My 'e-sports' background, if you could call it that, is in Brood War (StarCraft 1), which was a game I got a lot of enjoyment out of and was subsequently very active in. I'm personally of the opinion that Heart of the Swarm is a major improvement over Wings of Liberty, and in the last couple of months since the expansion's release, I've found myself putting in the 9 hour practice days that I used to back in Brood War.

What are you looking forward to the most about getting the chance to compete at MLG?

Unfortunately I don't think many people will look at the notable players list for MLG Anaheim, see my name, and get excited about me competing in this event. I'm looking forward to the opportunity that a major competition like this allows for me to fix this problem.

Is there anyone attending that you would like to play against in open bracket?

Anybody playing Zerg, Protoss or Terran; I don't practice against Random ;D.

What are your goals for MLG?

I think back in 2010 I didn't get any farther than round 7 in the loser's bracket. There isn't a group stage at this event as far as I know, but to make it to that level in the open bracket would be a big win for me. I think the equivalent in this tournament would be top 16 or so (this is also the cutoff for WCS points).

Where can we follow you/ track your experience at MLG?

I don't have access to my twitter account at the moment, but it's @coLFireZergSC2--- hopefully I have this problem fixed before I leave Thursday. I'll try and take as many pictures and videos as I can while I'm in Anaheim and hopefully post them somewhere on the complexity website when I get back ^^!

Any thank you/shoutouts?

Shoutout to compLexity Academy for giving me this opportunity to travel for e-sports and compete in this event, and to Soundblaster, Q-pad, PNY, Creative, Origin, Twitch, 1337 Gaming and Newegg. Cheers!

Be sure to tune into MLG Anaheim this weekend and cheer for Firezerg as he represents the compLexity Academy.